Jason

Things at Camp Jupiter had been quiet since the Giant War. I'd brought Piper to New Rome shortly after the Olympian party, and it had been a rather different camp experience. The relief from the world being safe and the influx of Greeks had lightened up the usually-serious nature of the camp, and a fair amount of Romans had gone to Camp Half-Blood. Because of this, every cohort was down on numbers. Gone were the strict rules about attire, keeping hair at regulation length and severe consequences for back-talking senior officers.

Even the War Games had changed. For the most part, castle sieges were Greeks versus Romans, engaging in friendly competition, but a few demigods from each camp always changed sides before matches. Reyna still tended to referee from her pegasus, but even she sometimes took part in the actual competitions.

As nice as the new, more-relaxed camp was, though, I was sorely missing Teams RWBY and JNPR. I hadn't exactly known them long, especially the latter, but the experiences we'd been through together had allowed us to really bond.

Piper seemed to share my sentiments. "I'm almost hoping things go to crap again so they'll come back," she said one day, as we were watching the sunset from one of New Rome's hills. The last rays were glittering off the Little Tiber, lighting up Piper's face and making her look absolutely radiant.

"Don't say that," I told her. "Now something bad will happen. I think we've done enough for one summer."

"Uh, Jason?" a new voice said from behind me. I turned and saw one of Apollo's Roman kids. "Didn't mean to eavesdrop, but yeah… something bad is gonna happen. It may have started."

"What is it?" Piper asked. She sounded as concerned as I felt.

"The new augur said he's seen some disturbing things," the kid said. "L.A. being obliterated, goddesses dying, monsters destroying both demigod camps…"

"Anything else?" I demanded, getting to my feet and heading in the direction of the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus. Piper and the kid followed.

"The world being cast into darkness."

"That doesn't sound good," Piper said. We broke into a run. When we got to the temple, we found Nico Di Angelo waiting for us, looking scared. Piper, Nico and I entered, and saw Reyna already inside with the augur. Reyna's face betrayed no thoughts or emotions, but her eyes were clear indicators of how worried she was.

"What's the situation?" I demanded.

"Well… I had a vision of one of the new goddesses, the black-haired one, being murdered by a dude in a mask…" the augur said slowly. "And Los Angeles is gonna get fucked up real soon, if my visions were accurate."

"Someone should get over there," Piper said. "And we should try to get in contact with Team RWBY, just in case."

"We'll go," I told her. "With Frank and Hazel."

"Anything else we should know?" Reyna asked the augur.

"I had a brief glimpse of an eternal night," he replied.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," I said. "For now, L.A., and warn Blake that she might be in danger. Reyna, you should make sure the camp is prepared for an attack."

I left the temple with Piper. After a quick stop at our quarters to change into clothes better suited for an adventure, we were off to hunt down Frank and Hazel. We found them, after half an hour of searching, in the archery range. Frank was trying to teach Hazel how to use a bow and arrow, but it didn't seem to be going well.

"Hey, guys," I called. My timing was less than impeccable; Hazel had an arrow nocked and let go of it in surprise. It hit the wall a foot away from the target with a loud thunk. When she turned around, she was blushing in embarrassment.

"Hey, Jason," Frank said. "What's up?"

"Fancy a double date to the City of Angels?" Piper asked.

"What's the catch?" Hazel asked. "We never get to just take a trip. Is something going on?"

"Something could happen," I told her. "Supernatural stuff. Could be dangerous. You two in?"

"Of course," Hazel and Frank said in unison.

"Are we taking a train, or what?" Piper asked.

"Good question." I hadn't thought that far ahead.

"We could take Arion," Hazel suggested. "He'd like the exercise. We just need to attach a chariot."

"Take about half an hour," Frank said. "Sounds good to me."

"All right. Where is he?" I asked. Instead of answering, Hazel left the range. The rest of us followed her to where the chariots were stowed, about ten minutes away from the archery range. The sun had almost completely set by now, and I couldn't help but think about what the augur had said. Eternal night wasn't something I was eager to see.

A sharp whistle dragged me back to reality. Within seconds, a brown horse with a black mane appeared nearby, his hooves smoking slightly. We wasted no time in hitching the nearest chariot to him while Hazel dragged gold up from the ground to feed him. It was done quickly enough, but we soon noticed a problem.

"The chariot only safely fits two people," Piper pointed out.

"Well, I'll be riding Arion," Hazel said, "but we're still too many."

"Can't Frank just turn into something small?" I asked.

"I can," Frank replied, "but I'd have nothing to hold onto."

"I can put you in my pocket," I suggested.

"Absolutely not." Frank didn't seem amused by my idea, but Hazel and Piper were hard-pressed not to laugh.

"What about sitting in Jason's hood?" Piper asked. "I mean, there's not really much else, unless you wanna turn into a bird and fly to L.A."

"I'm not flying. It'll take too long," Frank said. "All right, Jason, I'm trusting you."

He shrank down and grew fur all over his body, his nose elongated into a snout and his hands became tiny paws. After a few seconds, the thing looking up at me from where Frank had been standing was a hamster. Piper gently picked him up and put him in my hood, where I could feel him squirming around to get comfortable.

"You good?" she asked. After Frank squeaked, Hazel climbed onto Arion and Piper boarded the chariot, helping me get on immediately after.

"All right, Arion," Hazel said. "We need to go to L.A. Can you do that?" The horse whinnied. "Hold on tight, guys." Piper and I gripped the front of the chariot just in time, but Arion's sudden acceleration still almost caused us to fly out.

We sped out of the valley and headed west, which confused me. Hazel yelled something about running on water and the Pacific having less obstacles, and I felt like Piper shared my doubts about that being a good idea. We couldn't argue though; chariots weren't built for comfort, and when combined with the transonic speed Arion had now attained, that made it difficult to think. My brain seemed to be rattling in my skull, my face felt like it was peeling back and my teeth were banging together every time we hit the slightest of bumps.

It wasn't long before we were out of the Bay Area entirely, and I could see the Pacific Ocean spread out ahead of us. Its sparkling blue waters were speeding towards us at an alarming rate, but Hazel yelled back some assurance about everything being fine. It didn't feel fine.

We soon hit the water. I had my eyes clenched shut, but I opened them when I heard a terrified squeak coming from my hood. Frank was still there, then. That was good. Piper, meanwhile, had an iron grip on the side of the chariot. She definitely wasn't enjoying the trip. I, however, was starting to relax a bit more. The Pacific was a smoother surface than going overland, possibly because we were simply slicing through waves instead of bouncing with them. To my left was a never-ending expanse of blue ocean, and I wondered if Neptune knew what we were taking through his domain, and how he'd feel about it. To my right was the West Coast, whizzing by in a blur of colour. Other than the spray, hitting my face so hard it was like hail, I almost felt serene.

The sonic boom broke that illusion. Suddenly, the only sound was Arion's hooves hitting the water in front of me, and the wind hitting my face. It occurred to me that I wouldn't be able to hear Frank, so I pushed that thought aside.

The rest of the journey was almost eerie in its quietness. I couldn't help but think of what the augur had said. What could be happening in L.A.? To my knowledge, all the gods' enemies were beaten, and wouldn't be coming back for centuries at least. I strongly doubted the possibility of a mortal war. That stuff never showed up in Apollo's prophecies, or his kids' visions. And Blake being killed? Who or what could kill a goddess, especially one as skilled in combat as she was? The vision could have been wrong, or metaphorical in some way, but it still troubled me. As far as I knew, the only things that could actually kill a goddess were the primordial deities, or being thrown into Chaos, under Tartarus.

Most worrying, though, was the part about eternal night. Did that mean Apollo was going to die? Was he going to lose his sun chariot? Something worse?

These thoughts kept me so thoroughly occupied that I didn't even notice the chariot slowing down, or that I could hear again. The only thing that dragged me out of my stupor was Piper using her charmspeak.

"Jason! Off the chariot, dammit! We're here!"

I shook my head to clear it and stepped down to ground level. Piper retrieved Frank from my hood and put him on the ground. He didn't look pleased when he morphed back into a human.

"Hazel," he said, "we are never doing that again."

"I thought it was fun," Hazel insisted.

"Guys?" Piper interjected. "Not our biggest concern."

She was right. Arion had taken us to the outskirts of the city, where traffic had ground to a complete stop. People were running around frantically, mostly away from the city centre. The screams were rather loud. I looked in the direction of downtown and saw a large plume of smoke rising, much darker than the exhaust fumes of the infamous Los Angeles traffic.

"What's happening?" I asked the nearest person.

"Terrorists!" she yelled, barely stopping as she answered. "Save yourselves!" She was lost in the crowd soon after.

"Odds of that being true?" Frank asked.

"Low enough to warrant checking." None of the others questioned my decision, so we began picking our way through the throng of terrified mortals. Fear seemed to have taken hold of everyone, and not even Piper's charmspeak could calm them down.

It took a long time to reach the city centre, but when we did, it was immediately obvious that the woman who'd been yelling about terrorists hadn't been entirely correct. A woman with black hair was floating above the road in the middle of an intersection, apparently supported by a plume of flame. She was smiling maniacally, and her red dress didn't seem affected by the fire she was throwing around, melting cars and incinerating anyone unlucky enough to catch her eye.

The mortal police and SWAT teams had her surrounded and were firing at her from behind the cover of their squad cars. Most of the bullets melted and fell to the ground before they hit her, but she was blocking others with her bare hands. Even the more powerful assault rifles of the SWAT units were ineffective.

"Anyone have a plan?" Hazel asked.

"If I turn into a dragon I can probably take her," Frank suggested.

"And if you can't?" I asked.

"What about my charmspeak?" Piper asked. "I might be able to break her focus."

"It's too dangerous," I told her. "If you catch her attention and the charmspeak doesn't work, she'll kill you without a second thought."

"So what do we do?" Frank asked.

I was silent as I tried to think of an answer. As I pondered our options, an indignant voice broke through the gunfire and explosions.

"What kind of Semblance is that?! It's so fucking overpowered!" Semblance? I thought. Is someone from Remnant here?

"Shut up, Winchester." That voice was much calmer, much sterner and much more familiar. I looked around for the source when a large shard of ice flew into the intersection and hit the fiery woman, knocking her to the melted tarmac below her.

Weiss Schnee then strode into view, looking every bit as regal as I'd ever seen her. She was accompanied by four people I'd never seen before, all of whom looked extremely confused. Weiss herself looked pissed but determined and cast a glyph in the middle of the intersection. A visible bubble went out, halting the fire of the mortals. They looked around at each other, then climbed into their vehicles and retreated. The ones whose cars no longer worked ran away on foot.

"Who are you?" Weiss demanded of the woman in red.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" she replied, getting to her feet. "Ozpin should know by now that he's on the losing side. He's sent you to die."

"By your hand?" the goddess asked. "I doubt that."

"Fine." The woman launched a fireball at Weiss, who merely cast a shield in front of herself. The flames dispersed, then she conjured a hail of ice shards. The woman was ready for them, and evaporated them before they could touch her.

She ran at Weiss, almost too fast for me to see, drawing two swords seemingly out of nowhere as she went. The goddess was ready for her, blocking both blades with Myrtenaster. She pushed the woman back and shot some lightning from her rapier, sending her opponent into a building. She followed up with another large shard of ice, and sheathed her weapon.

"Hello. It's nice to see you again." Weiss' voice when she addressed Hazel, Frank, Piper and I was much friendlier than before.

"Hey, Weiss. How've you been?" I asked.

"I've been good. Until today."

"Schnee? Who the hell are these people, and where are we?" one of Weiss' companions asked.

"I already told you to be quiet," she snapped. "Do you have any idea who that was?" she asked us.

"No," Piper said. "Our camp augur told us something bad might happen here, so we came to keep an eye on things."

"Could be a Norse or Egyptian goddess," Weiss muttered. "Oh, yeah. Viking and Egyptian gods are real. It's not just Greek and Roman ones."

"Well, that's just great," Frank said.

"Gods don't exist," one of Weiss' companions said. He had burnt-orange hair, startling blue eyes and his grey armour had a bird design on it.

"Are you going to introduce us?" Hazel asked.

"This is Team CRDL. Cardin Winchester–" Weiss gestured at the kid with the bird armour – "is their leader. CRDL, this is Jason Grace, Piper McLean, Hazel Levesque and Frank Zhang."

No further conversation took place. I noticed the woman in red extracting herself from the building Weiss had thrown her into and yelled a half-formed warning as she launched another fireball at the goddess. This one connected and detonated, throwing us all to the ground. Weiss took the brunt of the impact and flew twenty feet before standing up shakily. Her clothes were untouched, but her face showed nothing but absolute fury.

"How?!" the woman in red yelled. "What are you?!"

In response, Weiss waved her hand. A miniature hurricane suddenly began swirling around the woman, instantly extinguishing any flames she tried to conjure as well as blowing her hair in her face. She yelled in fury and seemingly went nuclear, exploding with such force and intensity that I was temporarily blinded. Weiss' hurricane was dispelled, we were all sent backwards and all that was left of the intersection was a large crater. I was vaguely aware of the sound of shifting stone and a goddess cursing.

When I got my bearings back, I looked around to find Weiss with Myrtenaster stabbed into the ground. The sword was glowing, and above me was a white domed shield, apparently supporting a few tons of rubble.

"A building collapsed on us," Weiss explained. Her face took on a look of intense concentration and the shield expanded, pushing the rubble away from us. "And the woman escaped."

"To Remnant?" I asked.

"What do you mean, to Remnant?" Cardin asked.

"We're on a different planet, now shut up," Weiss told him. "And yes, Jason, she's now on Remnant. That's as far as I can track her."

"So what now?" Piper asked.

"Now we talk to everyone. Find out what we can. Piper, go see Chiron at Camp Half-Blood. Jason, I'm sending you to Remnant. Find Ozpin, tell him I sent you. Take CRDL with you. Frank, Hazel, to your camp. The Romans might know something the Greeks don't."

"What about you?" Frank asked.

"I'm going to Olympus."

Three portals appeared, each clearly going to different places. It wasn't hard to tell which was which. After some hurried goodbyes, Team CRDL and I stepped through ours. The last thing I saw before the portal closed behind us was bright golden light flooding through, evidence of Weiss' true immortal form.

A/N: Here's chapter 8, where things really seem to have gone to shit. It'll get worse.

Not too much to say here. Bit of foreshadowing.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Leave a review and follow/favourite if you wish.